On May 12, 2013 a Sydney man Mr Lazarus was accused of raping an 18 year old woman in an alley outside his father’s nightclub. This case caused discussion about NSW sexual consent laws. This case clearly highlights the effectiveness and some major flaws of the legal system. During the first jury trial in NSW District Court Mr Lazarus was convicted for rape without sexual consent and resulted in a maximum of five-year prison sentence. After serving in prison for 11 months the Court of Criminal Appeal conducted a second trial for the case which resulted in an acquittal as Judge Tupman claimed that Mr Lazarus truly did believe that Ms Mullins did consent which is a crucial element of the offence of sexual intersource without consent.
The force necessary to support a conviction of rape need only be such as to establish lack of consent and to induce the victim to submit without additional resistance. The degree of force required to constitute rape is relative and depends on the facts and particular circumstance of the
a. Actus Reus The actus reus requirement of murder must be committed by a voluntary, physical, and unlawful act. The unlawful act in a murder case is a killing not done in self-defense. Issa voluntarily took a loaded gun which was normally stowed away in the glove compartment of her car and placed it in her purse before entering the apartment.
The first and most serious offence Alex has perpetrated is the statutory rape of a child under the age of thirteen. By virtue of Section 5(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, it is provided that a person commits an offence if (a) he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person with his penis, and (b) the other person is under thirteen. It may be clearly concluded that the actus reus has been satisfied in this case as Alex, being a boy, would have penetrated Simone’s vagina with his penis during their act of sexual intercourse. The mens rea on the other hand has also been satisfied as it may be inferred from his agreement to perform the act that he had the intention. As these types of offences are strict
The victim was killed as a direct consequence of the suspect's intentional gunfire, meeting the actus reus requirement for second-degree murder. Furthermore, the Crown successfully establishes that the accused possessed the necessary mentality, or guilty mentality, for the offense. Further evidence that the accused intended to kill comes from the fact that the victim passed away from his wounds not long after being shot. On the contrary, the Defense's argument against mens rea is mostly based on assumption and other theories and is not supported by any concrete proof. The defense's assertion of the accused's lack of motive or intent is weakened by the absence of a clear explanation for the shooting.
In vignette number 1, a 13 year-old boy describes himself as being gay and discloses he has been sexually intimate with his 17 year-old friend LeRoy for the past 3 months. He is worried he may have a sexually transmitted disease. He wants your advise and support but does not want you to tell his parents. In this vignette, there is an illegal situation going on in this scenario.
Prior to the enactment of the rape shield law a defendant could offer testimony of a victim that would prejudice the jury against the rape victim. Sometimes the defendant in a rape case would portray the rape victim as promiscuous or having a series of sexual relationships. The defendant would attempt to sway the jury in his favor by portraying himself as a clean cut, innocent person who is simply guilty of exercising poor judgment and engaging in sexual behavior with someone of loose moral character rather than the callous rapist
The Case of The Millennium During 1930 on November 21st there was a case of Rape. The accused person was Tom Robinson a colored person. His lawyer was Atticus Finch a white man. He was the only lawyer in Maycomb who would take on the case he was a well-known one too Mayella Ewell was the individual who accused Tom Robinson of rape she is also the victim. The court room was led by Judge Taylor.
Defences to rape under Section 1 of the SOA 2003 often arise from (but are not limited to) the
Canada’s Economic System Although Canada and the United States have a very close economic relationship, they each have differents types of economies. America uses a market economy while Canada has a mixed economy. While some people believe Canada should change to a market economy, I think that Canada should continue to use a mixed one. In my perspective, a mixed economy better represents who we are as Canadians and what we value.
The accused had the responsibility of taking care of her. In the progress of taking care of her, the accused touched and kissed the complainant’s breast. He also forced the complainant to touch his penis which is an act of
Mens rea is the element of a crime which alludes to what is known as the “guilty mind”. The case of R v Mohan [1976] QB 1 , the case dealing with the meaning of intention in the context of the offence of murder, James LJ clarified that intention meant ‘aim’ or ‘a decision to bring about a certain consequence’ whilst mens rea is generally related with motive what it more directly links to the notion of intention. There are two types of intention, direct intention and oblique intention .Oblique intention is difficult for a jury to infer and difficult for a prosecutor to prove. Defining mens rea of intention precisely is very difficult over the years.
As a response to the systemic, widespread and massive rape campaign carried out against Bosnian Muslims and Croat women and girls during the 1992 to 1995 Bosnian War, the 1993 United Nations Security Council Resolution 827 (UN Security Council, 1993), as a preamble to the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), contains the first ever documented UN reference to rape committed during armed conflict or rape as a violation of international humanitarian law (Schott, 2011, p. 5). The United Nations has identified four types of war rape. These four types include opportunistic rape, which is random; political rape, which defines the woman as property and frequently incorporates public rapes as a means
The mens rea is the mental element of an offence. It refers to the mental state of the accused in terms of the offence. If no mens rea is present the accused cannot be convicted with the exception of absolute or strict liability. In order for a person to be guilty of a specific crime it is expected that the defendant has the necessary mens rea.(4) ‘Intention means the conscious objective or purpose of the accused.’(1) Intention is not the same as motive or desire to achieve a particular result.
Sexual assault laws have been amended and created over time to ensure the criminal justice system remains sensitive to the tribulations involved in rape trials for the victim. However, the connotative capacity of language used in evidentiary testimonies in rape trials can defeat the purpose of these reforms as ‘language is not merely a means of putting forth evidence in a case, but it in fact transforms the nature of evidence itself, thus influencing the outcome of the case’ (Maheshwari 2014:1). As theorised by Bourdieu (1982) symbolic power as ‘the power to create reality through language’ (Matoesian 1995:38) is successfully employed in rape trials to instil patriarchal and legal domination over the victim. The use of language in courtroom
